1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to discharging media.
2. Description of Related Art
Various devices have been devised for discharging dry media, such as sand blasting media used to remove paint or rust from surfaces. Various devices have also been devised for discharging wet media, such as water, paint or the like. Such discharge devices typically discharge wet media or particles of dry media from a nozzle at high velocity.
These devices can cause operator fatigue due to their weight and due to the reaction forces caused by the high-velocity discharge. In an effort to alleviate these and other problems, various automation attempts have been made, employing robotics systems.
Robotics systems are complicated and expensive. Furthermore, they remove the operator from direct control of the process, which can result in various drawbacks. For example, in dry media blasting to remove paint from a painted surface, it is often necessary to concentrate the dry media blast more heavily on some portions of the surface than on other portions of the surface due to variations in thickness, adhesion, durability or the like of the paint. A human operator can easily see where the blast needs to be concentrated (e.g., by seeing where paint still remains after an initial blast), and manually adjust the discharge device to properly direct the blast (e.g, by aiming the discharge device a second time at the portions where paint still remains). A robotics system, on the other hand, cannot so easily detect where the blast needs to be concentrated.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an ergonomic media discharge device that alleviates operator fatigue, but does not remove the operator from direct control of the process.
A media discharge device according to the invention includes a support member, a telescoping device supported by the support member, and a media discharge port provided at a first end of the telescoping device. The telescoping device is supported via a joint structure that allows the telescoping device to rotate with respect to the support member with at least one degree of freedom. The telescoping device includes a first member and a second member that moves with respect to the first member in an extending direction and a retracting direction. An actuator may drive the second member in the extending direction and in the retracting direction.
These and other objects, advantages and salient features of the invention are described in or apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments.